


Stories of the Second Self: Tooth and Nail

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [181]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom, rape victim advocacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25123555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: After working a late night at his law firm, Clarence is profiled and pulled over by a police officer. Prepared from an early age for such events, Clarence wasn't ready to later find a woman huddled on a cold street corner with signs she'd been assaulted. Careful not to get close or touch the woman, Clarence offers to cover her up and call a crisis center. He empathizes with her wishes not to involve police, however he finds the reason is that she claims to have killed her attackers. Clarence finds two grown men dead, yet the woman is unhurt.
Series: Alter Idem [181]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Tooth and Nail

"Your license and registration are valid," the officer told Clarence as he sat in his Lexus GS 350 listening to the bullshit reason to be pulled over by the cop, "The reason I stopped you is because you match a description of a suspect wanted."

'Let me guess. Black male in a suit with a law degree, pass the Bar first try, and driving a car that isn't barely running scrap,' Clarence thought, before he spoke aloud, "Yes officer, I understand."

The officer again put his right hand on his holstered pistol while handing back Clarence's license and registration. This stop lasted thirty minutes atop an already late night, with the cop going back to his car twice to run Clarence's license and description in the car's laptop. The second was because Clarence refused to be moved to the back seat of the squad car while the cop checked his license.

Once the cop went back to his car, Clarence was finally given permission to pull back onto the road. With the increasing weirdness going around the city, Clarence and others still had to put up with the presumption of guilt just for being alive.

"Tooth and nail, Clarence," he recited the words of his dad, "You gotta fight tooth and nail to prove you're just as good as they are."

Clarence got just a few blocks before something else caught his attention. He's seen homeless people huddled up against the brick faces of stores and offices before, but this was different. Bricks would absorb the relative warmth of day, but this woman cradled herself away from that weak radiant warmth. Her clothing appeared ripped and tattered, but not grungy with filth of prolonged unwashed wear. She shook uncontrollably.

First pulling over while checking his rear view mirror, Clarence then pulled out his phone. He wasn't going to just call 911 and risked being considered a suspect for whatever happened to this white woman. Instead, he exited his car while scrolling down to the the charity-run rape crisis center.

Clarence hadn't yet pressed the call icon while he asked the woman, "Excuse me, are you okay? Do you need any help!"

Just at his voice she flinched, and Clarence made sure not to get any closer than eight feet of her when kneeling down in her view.

"It's my fault," she said.

"What? Did someone do this to you?" Clarence asked. "Whatever it was you didn't deserve it. It's important for you to understand that."

She nodded quickly amid her trembling.

"I have the number of a crisis center here," Clarence revealed showing her the face of his phone. "Do you need their help? They can file a police report, if you request it."

"No!" she jolted her refusal, "No police, please."

"Well, I certainly understand that," Clarence muttered to himself while turning off the screen and pocketing the phone. "I have a jacket in the car, if you want that to cover up with. You look cold."

For the first time, she looked up at him. Clarence had seen red-eye in photos where the flash caused a reflection, but this was different. He pointed to his car and added, "I'm going to get that jacket, okay?"

Rising up, he went to his car and opened the rear door and got the jacket he'd put there in case the mod-fall weather got worse. Coming back, Clarence got just close enough to reach out with the coat to where she could take it.

She didn't move.

"I'm going to drape this over your shoulders, okay?" Clarence said, himself wary of getting closer without her knowing. "I promise I won't touch you."

Kneeling again, Clarence still maintained as much of a gap as he could while reaching one arm over to lay the jacket onto her. Just as he was about to pull his hands away, she reached out to his hand further out. The warmth of her soft touch contrasted with the chilly night, startlingly so in fact.

"You're a good person," she said, "I can tell."

"Wish you were there half an hour ago to tell the cop that," Clarence mused.

"Those other two weren't," She whispered.

"What other two?" Clarence wondered.

She pointed with her other hand.

At first, Clarence only saw an abandoned car, but then he noticed a hand reaching motionlessly from behind the tire.

"I'm going to be right back," Clarence said, eager to break contact with her hand still laid across the back of his. "It'll just be a sec."

Clarence rose up and walked over to discover what the woman meant, turning on his cell phone light and heaving his disbelief, "Jesus christ!"

"It's my fault," the woman said.

Society had conditioned a large swath of women to convince themselves that rape was always there fault, and Clarence was sure that's what she meant.

"These guys are ripped to shit," Clarence gasped, "What happened?"

"I did it," she reiterated.

"No, no." Clarence shook his head. "I mean they're clawed up and bitten. Was there a large dog with you?"

"No," she answered.

"Fuckers got what was comin' to them," Clarence whispered low enough he figured she couldn't hear.

"Yes, they did," she said in a tone harder than before, and looked up at Clarence.

He was over twenty feet away when he's said that under his breath and she heard him. Her reflective eyes had Clarence thinking of his dog reference. Yellow to green rather than red like camera flash on human eyes.

"Holy shit!" Clarence thought about claims of sightings that up to now he'd dismissed as bullshit.

"I won't hurt you," she said, "You're kind."

"Is that why your clothes are torn?" Clarence asked.

"I turned while they tried to pin me down," she admitted.

"Turned into what?" Clarence asked as he ventured over to her.

His reasons for not getting too close changed entirely. Something about her reminded him of the saying dogs could sense when people are afraid of them. Though, to be sure, he at last took a serious look at her hands. With such soft hands he hadn't considered examining them. Some rape survivors would know to scratch to get hair and skin traces, but with her the dried blood was definitely enough for DNA evidence. More blood marred her her neckline and lower throat, though the poor lighting made it harder to see before.

"I wiped off as much as I could after I turned back," she said, "I need to wash up. Can you drive me home?"

"I'll drive you to as close to home as your comfortable with," Clarence amended, amazed at himself for being a victim's advocate in light of what he learned from her. "I guess even werewolves have to worry about stalkers."


End file.
